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April 08, 2013

Fisker Firing 75% of WorkforceRUSH: Here's the Fisker story. "Fisker Automotive Firing as Much as 75% of Workforce -- Fisker Automotive Inc.'s mass firings after receiving federal loans to build luxury plug-in cars is adding to the political debate over the US government's funding of clean-energy programs. Most of the assets of Fisker's battery supplier that received a $249.1 million federal grant, the former A123 Systems Inc., were acquired last year by a [ChiCom] company.

"Now Fisker, awarded $529 million in US loans, is firing 75% of its workforce after failing to secure a deal with an automotive partner to fund operations." It's Solyndra all over again. Folks, it's half a billion dollars down the tubes for something that may work someday but doesn't yet: An electric car. Now, I don't know. It depends on where you read about this that you'll find different takes on it, like if you go to tech blogs. I read tech blogs a lot.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: You know, Snerdley had a point about that Fisker car. If you put a real engine in that car, if you put a V-12 or a twin turbo V8 in that car, you've got one heck of a sweet machine. But you put something in there that's gonna go 40 miles, it never had a chance. Put a real engine in there. But we can't put a real engine in because that uses gasoline, and of course we're destroying the planet with gasoline.

Tech Blogs Concerned Over ATF RegsRUSH: One of the tech blogs is Wired.com and they are very concerned over the latest ATF regulations. Have you heard about these? The Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms -- let me see if I can find it here in the stack -- has awarded itself all kinds of sweeping powers to check into your life via your guns. And the tech guys, you know, they love Obama. They think he's a great civil libertarian, so they've got a story like this, and it's fascinating. It may not be the Wired piece per se, but it's fascinating as they report on an administration violating everything they believe in. It's fascinating to read them give the benefit of the doubt.

(doing impression) "Well, of course they're seizing this authority, but the fact that they would use it is something else altogether uncertain." So they make excuses left and right for this massive usurpation. Here it is. "ATF Wants 'Massive' Online Database to Find Out Who Your Friends Are -- The ATF doesn’t just want a huge database to reveal everything about you with a few keywords. It wants one that can find out who you know. And it won’t even try to friend you on Facebook first.

"According to a recent solicitation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the bureau is looking to buy a 'massive online data repository system' for its Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information (OSII). The system is intended to operate for at least five years, and be able to process automated searches of individuals, and 'find connection points between two or more individuals' by linking together 'structured and unstructured data.'"

And then they write this later on: "There’s no hint the database is to be used to track gun sales, which is a big part of the ATF’s job, as the bureau is prohibited by law from establishing a centralized electronic database for gun purchases." Now, my contention to you is that if the Bush administration's ATF had done this, these tech people would be screaming from the top of flagpoles. They would be outraged over the violation of their privacy, and they would be assuming the absolute worst of what the ATF intended. But since it is Obama's ATF, why, it's perfectly fine the ATF wants this. In fact, it might help our society be safer. And there's no hint that the ATF would use this database to track gun sales.

Now, what do they need it for, then? What the hell is the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms bunch gonna do with this massive database if not track people's gun sales, usage, and all that? So all of these civil libertarians on the left just sit and twiddle their thumbs when their approved politicians attack their freedoms. They just assume the loftiest of good intentions. And even when their liberties are usurped, they still make excuses for Obama. And they still make excuses for the bureaucracies that are making inroads into their liberty and freedom, and their privacy. It's a stunning thing to see. Because they're sheep. They're absolute, utter sheep.

Liberals Applaud Thatcher's DeathRUSH: You know, Lady Thatcher, truly a great, great woman, a woman who has meant more to freedom and liberty for people all over the world -- in fact, one of the top ten people of all time, in terms of the importance of liberty and freedom and securing it, gaining it for people. You ought to read some of the stuff being said about her. Happy she died, what a witch. I guess where I'm going with this, folks, with all this today is there is no common ground here. There is no overlap of commonality. There is no place to compromise. I've got nothing in common with the people who are applauding Margaret Thatcher's death. I have nothing in common with them whatsoever.

I have nothing in common with people who want to track down a 13-year-old and find a way to get his mind right. I have no way to find anything in common with people who are troubled by a 13-year-old independently informing himself. I have nothing in common with people like that. My point is, in politics today everybody seems focused on finding common ground, compromise, bipartisanship. That's not the answer to this. Sadly, it isn't at all the answer.

I gotta take a break. I'm way long. Sorry to have to interrupt myself. There I go apologizing.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher did more to liberate people by defeating the Soviet Union and freeing eastern Europe than the Obamas, the Clintons, and Kerrys of this world ever have. They were all on the wrong side of that debate. They wanted to preserve the Soviet prison camp. But Lady Thatcher and Reagan freed those people.